Be who you are andbe that well

Welcome to Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic School which has a long standing reputation for academic excellence and a caring environment which facilitates learning and spiritual, social, emotional and physical growth.

Student Life

In our efforts to develop the whole child, OLGC School not only provides an excellent academic program but also offers after school clubs and extra-curricular activities to further enrich our students' experience. We also offer after school classes taught by vendors who contract with our school.

Band

Participates in the Diocesan Band Program and is available for grades 4-8. Lessons are given on a rotating basis during school hours. Full band practice is held after school for one hour each week. There is a separate fee charged for this program and is independently managed by the instructor. For more information contact, the school office.

Choir

Community Service-Faith In Action

Community Service is one way our students put their faith into action. Our service projects vary from year to year based upon the needs of our local community and availability of projects with the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales both nationally and internationally. We incorporate community service into some of our school events, like the collection of

canned food at our Halloween Trunk or Treat night, as well as Out of Uniform Day donations and direct participation in projects such as Share-A-Meal. Projects we have completed thus far in this school year include:

Share-A-Meal Thanksgiving Dinner Boxes for Clearview ES

Christmas Giving Tree sponsored by grades K - 5

Christmas Adopt-a-Family sponsored by Middle School grades

Donation to American Cancer

Society

Halloween candy for the military

Donation to Children's

Hospital Medical Center

Collection of canned food for local food banks at Trunk or Treat

Participation in the Food for Others Power Packs program for FCPS students

Adopt-a-Family Program for NY families whose houses were destroyed on Long Island

Baby Bottle Drive to provide funds for the Alexandria Pregnancy Help Center (Sanctity of Life Ministries) to be used for the training of staff, the purchase of ultrasound equipment, and renovations to the clinic as needed.

Computer Club

Starting in the second semester, the Computer Club is open to middle school students who want to extend their learning and exploration of computer-oriented activities and topics to include programming, computer science, computer applications, gaming, and other independent projects. In past years we have explored special features of Google Earth, such as the interactive tours and the aviator mode; conducted video conferences to far away places; created animations using our own voices and choreography; programmed games and other projects using Scratch, Kodu, Code Academy, Khan Academy; shared some of our favorite gaming websites; and more! Tentatively, the club will meet on Mondays, from 3-3:45pm in the computer lab from December through June.

OLGC is creating a Lego Robotics Team comprised of 2nd through 4th graders. The team will develop science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills through the use of motorized Lego robotics. Meetings will be held after school once per week for one hour. The students will be given a challenge and will work together to build a Lego machine to solve the problem. The OLGC team will compete against local clubs in building and problem-solving challenges. No previous experience is necessary. All Legos, motorized components and iPads for controlling the robots will be provided by the team. The team will be coached by Tom Flanigan and managed by Jeff Zures.

Newspaper

The Wildcat Tales is Our Lady of Good Counsel's student newspaper. The paper is currently published two or three times during the school year.

Students in grades 2-8 are welcome to submit articles, while weekly meetings are limited to 7th and 8th grade students in editorial and staff positions.

Students submit articles on a wide variety of subjects including academics, sports, current events, as well as lifestyle subjects such as movie and book reviews, fashion, and personal advice column "Dear Wildcat." The newspaper also includes comics and puzzle pages.

Science Club is a unique opportunity for students to explore their interest in the sciences outside of the classroom. Science Club focuses on energy conservation, environmental stewardship, various other topics and surprising experiments that will excite any student.

For two consecutive years the club has won the Virginia School of the Year - Elementary Division and Outstanding School Energy Efficiency Project at the National level through a competition with the NEED Project. The project can be viewed at http://www.need.org/virginia

Science Club is offered for grades 3-5 . It meets on Thursdays from 3-3:45pm. A calendar of meeting dates will be given to club members.

Vendor Sponsored After School Activities

Chess Club

Participants include students in grades K-8. Chess Club meets every Wednesday after school in the library loft from 3-4pm. There are two sessions each year, fall and winter. A separate fee is charged for this program which is independently managed by Silver Knights Chess.

Dance

Two after school dance classes are offered:

Music & movement classes are available for high-energy students in kindergarten - 3rd grade depending upon the session. Students will learn the fundamentals of dance styles, focusing on rhythm & coordination. Classes will include the basic elements of ballet and jazz as well as the concepts of body awareness, space, rhythm, and shape. Contact Nikki Stezin for more information.

Current dance trends and styles are offered to students in grades 4-8. Go to Adrenaline Dance Studio for more information.